I wonder if it's too much to ask that we get less "He said, she said" reporting from the Roane County News and more substance. The whole story would be nice.

The RCN ran a story on developer Matt Caldwell having his property valuation hearing continued because he owes back property taxes. Link...

Left out of this reporting is the fact that there are over a hundred agreed orders for reduced valuations that are being held up by the Assessor's office. It is hard to see how a campaign pledge for "Fair Appraisals" is fulfilled by using a legal procedure to block a landowner from getting his day in court in order to get "fair appraisals" because he hasn't paid his taxes which are based on the unfairly high appraisals from the previous assessor's administration. The Judge apparently agrees because he held the assessor's motion to dismiss in abeyance. This legal tactic is a recipe for property owner abuse by the County.

What if an assessor puts an outrageously high and unfair valuation on a property which results in a tax bill that the owner cannot pay? This legal maneuver blocks the property owner from having their day in court, as in this case. Does this sound fair?

Weren't we promised "Fair"?

There's another part of this fiasco that involves the County Commission's push for unjustifiably high valuations so that they can look like they aren't actually raising property taxes when they set the rate. We've mentioned in the past that we estimate an unfair tax burden of $15 million per year on properties that have been devalued by the TVA ash disaster and the subsequent recession but not reflected on the most recent tax reappraisals. All of this is a way to confuse Roane County tax payers and bury the fiscal mismanagement of our recent past. It's time to get it out n the open, get correct valuations on the books and let the chips fall where they may.

Selective reporting isn't helping.